thoughts from an HR newbie

presentation skills

“There are two types of speakers. Those who get nervous and those who are liars.”

Did you know that surveys about our fears commonly show fear of public speaking at the top of the list. Our fear of standing up in front of a group and talking is so great that we fear it more than death, in surveys at least.. 🙂

This fear is most of the time caused by some form of social anxiety. Actually it has all started in the past when people were constantly under the threat of being killed by animals and they had to collaborate with each other in order to protect themselves. In other words they had to belong to a group. My observations are that very often people try to tell that they don’t care if someone likes them or not or if they belong to a certain group or that they are not hurt when a group does not accept them well and that they prefer to be on their own. In fact, humans are social animals and we constantly need and have to be part of a group and to be accepted. Otherwise, we won’t exist. What happens when it comes to the fear of public speaking is actually the fact that we are afraid of rejection. We are afraid of not being well accepted and afraid of being left alone to handle things on our own. Just like in the past – we are afraid that we would have to fight with the animals alone.

Why you need presentation skills and public speaking skills?
Trust me, it will be part of almost every well-paid and challenging job. Really, want it or not! People are presenting to their colleagues on different topics and problems all the time! Therefore, if you want to be good at your job, you should absolutely possess these skills! Besides, if you want to “sell yourself” to a future employer, it will DEFINITELY matter. That’s why I always encourage people to constantly develop their presentation/public speaking skills! To me, it is a skill you should practise all the time, whenever, wherever possible! And you should never stop learning! But don’t expect to be perfect – there is always something that you can do better. Even the best presenters and speakers in the world never stop learning and trying to make their presentation as good as possible.